Citizens for the Future of Eagle (C.F.E.) is a group of concerned citizens committed to preserving the unique small town character of Eagle through smart growth principles and policies.
Eagle's quality of life is in jeopardy. An out-of-town development group, Trinity /Red Development, has proposed a massive project on 88 acres of pasture land in East Eagle - the 572,000 square foot+ Eagle River Station. ERS would be anchored by large format retailers-ie...big box and numerous junior anchor stores, have a "lifestyle" center with 4 story, 62 ft. buildings (which is massive and way over the maximum presently allowed in Eagle) There is also a proposed "main street" just like our existing Downtown, a 150 room hotel, 581 apartment-style homes, 4 story condos and office/institutional spaces, but those plans are not solid.
Literally, at build out, there will be acres and acres of parking lots - 2,499 spaces of asphalt - hugely detrimental to the nearby Eagle River! TARGET has just been named the anchor (March 2009), but that is only via a Letter of Intent and we haven't actually seen it. We have to ask, since there is already a TARGET in Glenwood Springs and in Silverthorne, how would ERS have a "regional" draw to Eagle?
If this development is approved by the Town board, or the citizens in a referendum vote, it will dramatically increase our traffic, pollution, crime, and population. Eagle River Station is five times the size of our current downtown business area or the size of 4-5 Costcos lined up. Eagle will no longer be the small town we all moved here for.
The proposed Eagle River Station is not the right fit for Eagle. TARGET being named the anchor store proves that this center is nothing "unique," plus ERS's market area from Summit County to beyond Glenwood Springs now becomes defunct. The Eagle Planning and Zoning board agreed that ERS is wrong for Eagle (way before TARGET was named the anchor) and voted NO on July 24th, 2008 to deny this application. They denied it the year before as well. Their main concern (along with ours) is that ERS is too large- it doesn't fit our community master plan and essentially "creates a 2nd town of Eagle."
ERS is now in it's final weeks at the Town Council level before they cast their vote.Please refer to the FAQ's for more detailed information and sign our on line petition if you agree with our philosophy which is to DENY approval of ERS. |
Click here for breaking news (May 14, 2009) on RED Development's tactics in other communities with similar developments to ERS>In the news and you must watch this You Tube video- YouTube - NoBailout4RED or this video YouTube - Lee's Summit Council Loans $9M To Developer
Ultimately, Eagle can easily be put into the same situation as these other communities regarding the bonds. The Town of Eagle cannot fully back the bonds for the project and Target alone cannot enhance them. No bailout for RED in Eagle! Plus, RED should be fully accountable for using local contractors and there is absolutely no assurance of that!
C.F.E. supporters know that Eagle can do better. We do not want this massive development as the gateway to our community and Target being named the anchor makes their sales projections less feasible than ever.
The future of Eagle will be better if we focus on supporting and investing in our five existing business districts, including our downtown business district, the most unique downtown in the entire Eagle Valley. And, we should still explore all intergovernmental opportunities with our neighboring town of Gypsum to share infrastructure costs and to revenue share on larger scale retail centers. Together we can find creative and innovative ways to help Eagle thrive economically without compromising our community character.
We welcome your help in opposing the Eagle River Station development and in helping us brainstorm alternative, viable solutions to obtaining sales tax revenues. There is a newly formed "Events and Marketing task force" consisting of business owners and concerned citizens. We have many good ideas for the near and far future, but need to actually implement them. Please contact us to join the fight to protect Eagle. If you have any questions, send an e-mail to noboxineagle@aol.com or contact us at P.O. Box 4162, Eagle, CO 81631.
For alternative solutions, learn more about our CFE Visioning Committee |
 |